The Crime Statistics Agency released two 'in fact' sheets today on youth crime. One fact sheet detailed young people’s co-offending patterns and the other, analysed offence seriousness of first-time young offenders between 2012 and 2016.
The co-offending research found that 56% of young people (10-17 year olds) committed at least one offence with another person in 2016, down from 63% in 2007. Young co-offenders were also shown to more likely to co-offend with other young offenders than their adult counterparts.
Further research found that the number of first-time young offenders committing crimes against the person remained stable over time, while the number recorded for a property and deception offence significantly decreased by an average of nearly 9% per year from 2012 to 2016. This decrease in property and deception offences was driven by a drop in first-time young offenders committing retail theft offences.
The research paper Co-offending among young Victorian offenders in 2016 is available here.
The research paper Are more first-time young offenders being recorded for serious crimes than in the past? is available here.
The media release for these papers is available here.